


In an Instant

by TaeStarr



Series: In an Instant [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Grave Injury, Sad Ending, Starts lighthearted and ends angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 17:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17309180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaeStarr/pseuds/TaeStarr
Summary: It seems like any other adventure until it's not like any other adventure.





	In an Instant

**Author's Note:**

> Because exactly one (1) person asked for it, I rewrote an earlier one shot of mine from Huey and Dewey's perspective instead of Louie's.

Huey and Dewey were seated back-to-back in their prison cell, their wrists bound together with copious amounts of rope. Their raid of the crypt was _not_ going to plan, that’s for sure, but neither duck seemed too worried. Some people might call their situation “getting captured and tied up,” but the Duck boys just called it “Tuesday.” Besides, their captors didn’t even seem to be aware that the third Duck brother even existed. Louie was surely working overtime to free his brothers, and his brothers knew that Louie did his best work under pressure.

Huey felt around his bindings with his fingers, trying to identify what knots had been used to bind him. _It’s all held together by a simple double constrictor knot… amateurs,_ Huey thought to himself. All he needed to do was move the bindings back and forth enough times to loosen the riding turn in the knot and he’d be able to slip right out.

He needed to bide his time, though. Breaking out of his bindings now would do no good, seeing as he would still be trapped behind the bars of his cell. His captors would just re-tie the bindings (or worse).

“… _are you two even listening to me?”_ roared a deep, gruff, villainous voice.

“Ehhhhh, I’ve been getting bits and pieces,” Huey replied sardonically.

“Seriously, bro, you need to get your own thing. The ‘world domination’ schtick is _super_ overplayed,” Dewey tacked on.

The villain at hand gave an exasperated look. It was some sort of statue of some old Egyptian pharaoh brought to life. It was about fifteen feet tall and probably weighed a few tons, but the Duck triplets had faced and conquered scarier creatures when they were children. Now, at age 20, they were fearless.

“Why don’t you start over? I promise to listen this time,” Huey sang childishly.

The statue sighed, running its palm down its face before starting its evil monologue again. The villain summoned magical images of the ancient days of its rule, something Huey would have found immensely interesting (if only for the historical knowledge he could gain from it) if he wasn’t trying to brainstorm an escape plan. The cell was embedded into the stone wall at one end of a large circular arena. The evil statue paced around the arena as it waxed on and on about the glory days of its rule.

“…and so I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. _Centuries,_ I have waited, slowly using the power of the jewel to raise my army, one warrior at a time. Now we are mere _weeks_ away from our invasion. We will reclaim the entirety of Egypt, and I, Pharaoh Sahure, will be restored as its rightful ruler. The pretenders who live there now will make mighty fine slaves…”

_“You know that this means we have to stop you now, right?”_ came a familiar voice from up on a high rafter in the room. “All we wanted was a jewel, and now we have to save the world. You know, if you had just kept your mouth shut, Mr. Statue, we would have left with your jewel and you coulda’ still done your whole invasion thing.”

“Louie!” Huey and Dewey yelled simultaneously. Huey began to loosen his bindings, knowing that the time had come to enact an escape plan.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait, guys! I had to spend some time just _embarrassing_ the guards around here. Speaking of which, _Pharaoh Manure_ ,” Louie mocked as he turned to the statue, “if those guards are the warriors in that army you’ve been raising, then I don’t think your invasion is going to go too well. I’ve been clowning them all night! They’re dumber than rocks, which is odd because… that’s what… you are,” Louie stammered, “you’re made of rocks, so you shouldn’t be dumber than…”

“You _gotta_ work on your banter, Louie!” Dewey yelled out.

“I’m not going to take that type of advice from the same guy who solely does puns based on his own name,” Louie volleyed. “That’s just not how I _Dewey_ things.”

“Hey!” Dewey griped before being interrupted by the enemy.

“How many of you are there _?_ ” the statue asked indignantly. “No matter. You insolent little brats, you will _all_ die here!”

The statue slammed the base of its staff into the ground and dozens of torches lining the circumference of the arena lit up, bathing the area in a bright orange light. The jewel that the Duck triplets had come for flew through the air and embedded itself in the tip of the statue’s staff. The exits to the arena slammed closed.

“It’s go time, Louie!” Dewey yelled out. His excitement was obvious. Dewey always loved a climatic fight.

Louie gripped a rope near him, getting ready to swing down into the arena. He placed the key ring he had stolen from a guard in his beak. He needed to swing close enough to his brothers’ cell that he could drop the keys to them.

“MM guh’na kih ur ath back to ensh’n time!” Louie tried to yell with the key ring still in his beak, before jumping from the rafter and swinging out over the arena.

_“What?”_ the pharaoh roared in response, watching the green-clad duck swing overhead.

“Dude, that sounded worse than Uncle Donald!” Dewey howled with laughter.

“You can’t do a suitable battle cry with something in your mouth, Louie!” Huey added. Moments later, the key ring landed at Huey’s feet with a loud clank.

“I said, ‘I’m gonna kick your ass back to ancient times!’” Louie clarified, his mouth now free of obstruction. Louie’s swinging trajectory continued straight toward the statue, and he landed a solid kick to the enemy’s face. Unfortunately, the statue’s face was much more solid than the average face. Louie awkwardly bounced off the statue and landed on his back on the stone floor of the arena. The fall knocked the air out of him.

Huey, who had already freed himself from his bindings, glanced nervously over toward the action but couldn’t tell exactly what was going on. He was too preoccupied with freeing Dewey, who was bound facing away from the action and couldn’t see what was going on either.

Louie gasped for air before his vision became filled with the bladed end of the staff that the statue carried. Louie scrambled back slightly to evade the blade, but the statue followed, keeping Louie pinned. The statue held the blade mere inches away from Louie’s chest.

“Heh… Heh…” Louie chuckled through gasps as he tried to get his wind back. He put on an apologetic face. “Let’s… let’s talk about this, huh? I think… I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Die!” the statue shrieked in reply, jamming the knife down toward where Louie was laying. Louie deftly spun on the ground, dodging the blade which glanced off the stone floor with a loud clatter. Louie countered, quickly hopping to his feet and then onto the overextended arm of the statue. Within a fraction of a second Louie had scaled the statue’s arm and was clinging onto its back. The statue began to flail wildly, trying to dislodge Louie from its back with its free arm, but it couldn’t quite reach.

“Get off of me, you feathered rat!” the statue screamed.

“I didn’t hear a ‘please!’ And I thought old people had manners!” Louie shot back.

The statue impetuously decided to flop backwards, trying to crush Louie beneath its body. Louie swung around so that when the statue collided with the ground, he was standing on top of its chest. He quickly jumped toward the statue’s staff, trying to dislodge the jewel from its tip. The jewel would not budge.

The statue, after being momentarily dazed, looked up to see Louie trying to steal its jewel. The pair made eye contact, and Louie stuck out his tongue and gave a raspberry, spraying saliva all over the statue’s face. The statue quickly rose to its feet with a furious roar, and Louie backflipped away, landing in a crouched position and sliding a few feet across the floor. He was immediately forced to perform another backflip as the statue swung its bladed staff in a wide arc, trying to cut Louie in half. The blade came so close that Louie was certain he lost a few tailfeathers to it.

Louie landed and rushed inward, seemingly heading to the statue’s left but quickly juking to the right. The statue was in the middle of swinging its staff again and tried to adjust to Louie’s sudden movement, but its legs buckled and it fell to the ground. Louie picked up a small rock and executed a textbook jump shot. The rock impacted squarely on the statue’s face as it laid on the ground.

“Broke your ankles!” Louie yelled out mockingly. “Man, I knew I shoulda’ made varsity. Coach just hated me,” Louie added under his breath.

The statue was slow to get up. Louie retrieved a quarter from his pocket and began to spin it on the tip of his index finger like it was a basketball. “You ready to give up yet?” Louie asked snidely.

Meanwhile, Huey finally managed to free Dewey from his bindings. The two brothers raced to the entrance of their cell. Huey began to try the various keys on the key ring Louie had given him in the lock on the cell door. Dewey glanced up to see Louie still absentmindedly spinning the quarter on his fingertip, even as the statue had almost completely picked itself up. Dewey also spotted a bunch of purple light gathering at the tip of the statue’s staff. The statue was using its body to obscure the sight from Louie.

“Goodbye, little duckling!” the statue uttered deviously.

“Louie, watch out!” Dewey screamed with legitimate terror.

Movies make it seem like these things happen in slow motion. In reality, it happened faster than Dewey could blink. The statue turned and raised its staff to the heavens, and a large purple beam flew from the jewel in the tip of the staff toward Louie. Louie began to dodge, but the beam crossed the distance at Mach speed. A small but bright explosion enveloped the area where Louie stood. A split second later, as the explosion dissipated, Huey and Dewey could see that Louie was no longer there.

“No!” Huey and Dewey screamed simultaneously.

At that moment, Huey found the correct key and burst the cell door open.

“What? How did you two get free?” the statue asked. Its voice was gaudy and smug.

“What did you do to our brother?” Dewey screamed.

“Explosive beam. Is that _‘overplayed,’_ you worm?” the statue spat back.

With enraged battle cries, Huey and Dewey rushed the statue. The statue swung its staff at them, but Huey slid under it and Dewey jumped over it. Dewey landed on its arm and grabbed the shaft of its staff, wrestling with the statue for control. Huey quickly scanned the area and spotted Louie laying on his back some distance away. Huey then began to circle the statue, wrapping its legs with the rope that had been used to bind him while it was distracted by Dewey. The statue was slowly getting the upper hand as it struggled with Dewey for control of the staff.

“Why don’t you join your brother in hell?” the statue yelled fiercely. The same purple light began to gather around the tip of the staff.

“Now, Huey!” Dewey yelled. Huey pulled the rope taut around the statue’s legs, knocking it off balance. Dewey was able to wrest enough control of the staff to aim the tip toward the statue itself. Dewey jumped away and the beam fired, crashing into the statue’s face and setting it ablaze with brilliant explosive light. Moments later, the dust cleared to reveal a statue missing its head. The rest of the statue’s body seized up before falling over, breaking into many pieces when it impacted the ground.

Huey approached Dewey, who was clapping his hands together to dust them off. The two brothers made quick eye contact before wordlessly sprinting to check on Louie.

_He still hasn’t moved. Oh god, he still hasn’t moved,_ Huey thought to himself as he approached his injured brother.

The two brothers knelt on either side of Louie, and Huey put his arms under Louie and lifted him slightly. The lower half of Louie’s shirt was burned away, and a bloody hole was visible in Louie’s abdomen. Feathers up and down Louie’s body had been singed by the explosive beam.

Huey began to panic, and it was obvious in his voice. He spoke extremely fast and his voice cracked constantly. “Oh god, oh _god_ , Louie. Oh _shit_ , Louie. Can you hear me? Louie, I need you to look at me. Louie, _fuck_ , Louie, please!”

Dewey was paralyzed. He hadn’t realized just how bad the situation was until he was kneeling next to his injured brother. There was blood everywhere. It invaded all of Dewey’s senses and left him completely immobile. He could see the blood fountain up out of Louie’s wound. He could feel the blood under his knees. He could hear the blood dripping, and it sounded like someone hadn’t completely shut the tap at the sink. The worst part was the smell. The smell of blood was so intrusive that Dewey could practically taste it.

Dewey was speechless, and was not aware of when he started crying. He ran his hand through his hairfeathers as his body was rocked with sobs.

Huey closed his eyes and took a few long breaths to calm himself. He would do his brother no good by panicking. When he opened his eyes again he assessed the situation. Louie was conscious, his eyes were open and darting around, and he was grunting against the pain, but he didn’t seem _aware_. He didn’t acknowledge Huey and Dewey’s arrival and seemed to stare through them. It didn’t appear that he was able to speak. Huey looked around to assess the volume of blood and his heart sank. It had been maybe two or three minutes since he was hit with the beam, and he had already lost at least a pint of blood, if not two. At this rate, there was absolutely no way they could get Louie out of the crypt before he bled out.

But this was their brother. Huey had to try.

“Louie, everything’s going to be alright,” Huey said with a confidence that he did not have. “We’re going to get you out of here, we’re going to get help,” Huey continued as he removed his polo, pressing the shirt down onto Louie’s wound to try to stem the bleeding. It was mere seconds before the shirt was completely drenched.

“Dewey! Give me your shirt! I need your shirt!” Huey yelled. Dewey did not budge.

“ _Dewey!”_

Dewey broke out of his trance and quickly removed his shirt. Huey applied that shirt to Louie’s wound as well, and it became saturated with blood just as quickly.

“Louie, can you hear me?” Huey said, “We’re going to get moving pretty soon. We’re going to get you out of here and to a hospital, where they’ll fix you right up. You’ll be back on your feet before you know it, lil’ bro. Don’t worry yourself one bit, don’t worry at-”

Huey froze when he felt something wet against his cheek. Louie had lifted his blood-soaked hand and placed it gently on Huey’s face. It was the first sign that Louie was at all aware of his brothers’ presence. Louie tried to speak but only managed a pained grunt. As Louie removed his hand from Huey’s cheek, Huey was nearly positive that he saw Louie give a weak chuckle.

Louie’s arm suddenly fell limply to the ground, draping slightly over one of Huey’s arms as he continued to cradle his brother. Louie’s head listed weakly to the side and his eyelids drooped. Huey began to panic again, and he began to lightly shake Louie. Dewey’s eyes went wide.

“No! Don’t fall asleep, Louie! We need you to stay awake!” Huey screamed.

Dewey finally found his voice. “We’re going to get out of here, Louie! Please! _Stay with us!_ ”

“You’re going to be fine. _Louie! Please!_ Look at me!” Huey wailed.

_“Oh god Louie, please. Please don’t do this,”_ Dewey sobbed, now fully hysterical.

Louie’s head turned back toward his brothers and he arduously lifted both his arms. He lifted his right arm up to Huey, who was still cradling him. Huey continued to lift Louie with one arm while he gripped Louie’s hand with the other. Louie lifted his left arm up toward Dewey, who was still kneeling beside him. Dewey took Louie’s hand and clasped his other hand over it. Huey and Dewey went silent, save for their sniffles.

“I-I’m… sor…ry,” Louie exhaled. His voice was weak, too weak.

“Oh, Louie, don’t say that. Please don’t say that. You have nothing to be sorry for,” Huey whimpered.

Then Louie went limp.

Huey’s head felt hot as an oven. He felt for pulse on Louie’s neck. Nothing. Huey began to hyperventilate.

“L-Louie?” Dewey whispered.

Huey tightly hugged the body of his brother and began to rock back and forth, weeping loudly and inconsolably.

“Louie?” Dewey asked again, staring into his little brother’s open but lifeless eyes as Huey rocked him back and forth.

It all seemed to hit Dewey at once. He’d never again get to pull elaborate pranks on Uncle Donald with his younger brother. He’d never again get to go out to the town and flirt with the cute local girls with his younger brother as his wingman. He’d never again get to have heated arguments and nasty fights with his younger brother, and he’d never again get to experience the sincere apologies and fraternal bonding that always followed.

Louie was _dead_. Dewey had lost a third of himself. The pain was unfathomable.

Dewey joined his brothers’ embrace. Loud bawling echoed through the arena, the only noise save for the light whooshing sound given off by the torches that illuminated the area. They remained in the embrace for some time; neither Huey nor Dewey wanted to pull away, as if doing so would signify some sort of acceptance of Louie’s death.

Eventually Huey laid Louie down and used his fingers to shut his brother’s eyes. Huey knew it was cliché, but it seriously did look like his brother was just sleeping. Huey and Dewey stood upright together and made momentary eye contact. Huey noticed with horror that much of Dewey’s body was covered with their brother’s blood. Huey knew that he probably didn’t look much better.

Huey and Dewey pulled each other into a weepy hug.

“Oh god, Huey,” Dewey whispered, “What have we done?”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been jotting down ideas for longer, less angsty, multi-chapter stories I could write with the characters from this fandom but nothing has really gotten off the ground yet. Hopefully something will stick soon.


End file.
